


This IS the Land for Wishing, After All

by Cumberbatch Critter (ivelostmyspectacles)



Category: Alice in Wonderland (Movies - Burton)
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, First Kiss, Reunions, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-03
Updated: 2016-11-03
Packaged: 2018-08-28 18:30:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8457295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivelostmyspectacles/pseuds/Cumberbatch%20Critter
Summary: When she returns to Underland, he is so shocked that he can scarcely believe she is actually there. He gasps out loud and hastens to hug her, for even if it is another dream of his, after all of this time, he will hold her close. She is warm and comfortable in his arms. And it feels like she belongs there, has belonged there all of their lives.





	

When she leaves Underland after rescuing the Hightopps, the happiness is marred by the feeling seizing her chest after returning to England. She can't exactly describe it. It's something akin to heartbreak, but Hatter isn't gone. He had said that they would meet again, and she believed him.

She _trusts_ that she will see him again, and that is enough. It has to be.

And yet... the feeling clawing into her chest, chasing sleep from her beneath the canopy as she lays in bed, haunting the long days at sea while Mr Harcourt and Mother sometimes have to jolt her back to reality... it doesn't leave. It lessens, after time, as the years pass by again, and she learns to live with it.

Still there is a sense of unease, of something missing, and Alice can't help but think that it's Underland, and the friends she left behind.

　

 

When she leaves Underland after rescuing his family, Tarrant finds his reunion with the family he has not seen for years is somewhat bittersweet. He got his family back, but he had lost Alice. ( _Again_.) He tries not to think about it, to not focus on the way that his heart had wrenched when she had vanished through the looking glass, tries to ignore the blatant lack of light and life that has gone with her.

But she isn't gone, he reminds himself firmly. He had said that they would meet again, and he needs to believe that. The thought that he will see her some day is enough. Or it would be if he isn't-

He also tries to not think about what, exactly, he _is_ , delving into the family business with his father as they try to make up the years. The feeling clawing at his chest is not one he is accustomed to feeling, not in this way. He likes tea, and his friends, and hats, and he likes Witzend and lots of other things... and then there is Alice.

His Alice.

But she is gone for now. She will be back, and he has memories for now. That's enough. He can live with her absence knowing their reunion will be ever so sweet.

That doesn't stop the very _mad_ feeling in his heart, but he can deal with it, and he does.

　

 

When she returns to Underland, she crashes into Hatter's chest so hard that she can hear the air leave his lips. She doesn't know if it's because of the force, or if it's a gasp of surprise. She doesn't know, and she doesn't _care_ , because she is here, and he is here, and she feels happy and complete and like she is _home_. Which is a patently crazy idea. But it's perfect.

"Hatter, I've missed you," she breathes into his jacket. He smells like tea and cake and the faintest hint of citrus, and the colourful spools of thread thrown around his torso dig uncomfortably into her chest. She _does not care_.

She also does not let go.

His arms circle her snugly, and his fingers drift towards her hair. Alice can remember that last hug in Underland, before she had left years ago. It feels exactly as though she hasn't gone, and it feels one hundred times better at the same time.

"I've missed you too!" he exclaims, and the joy in his voice sounds exactly the way Alice feels on the inside. "You've been gone so long!"

"I know!" She pulls away enough to look him in the face. "I could never get back, I'm sorry." She doesn't admit how that had kept her up at night through the years. She also doesn't admit how her heart has yearned to see him, and how it feels like it's going to beat right out of her chest now, while his arms are still around her and she has her hands against his arms.

He just looks at her for a long moment, almost as if he cannot believe his good fortune. Alice cannot believe hers, either. The smile that seems to threaten to split her face fades into a small, soft one. She has _missed him_.

"... Well, you're back now!" he says suddenly, and pulls away just enough to grab her hand. "Let's get inside, it's positively freezing out here!"

There is snow on the ground, and snow in the air, and Alice supposes that it is cold, but Hatter is wearing gloves that still expose his fingertips, and her fingers feel warmer with his entwined with hers.

　

 

When she returns to Underland, he is so shocked that he can scarcely believe she is actually there. He gasps out loud and hastens to hug her, for even if it is another dream of his, after all of this time, he will hold her close. She is warm and comfortable in his arms. And it feels like she belongs there, has belonged there all of their lives.

His eyelashes flutter against his cheek as he thinks it, and kneads his fingers into her hair. It's shorter now, just below the shoulders, but save looking a bit older, she looks precisely as he remembers.

Tarrant believes that it really is another dream of his, because it is so perfect.

He has to step back and stare at her, narrowing his eyes to ascertain if it is truly her - but he would know his Alice anywhere. This is real, and he feels giddy enough to Futterwacken if it wouldn't dislodge her hand from his.

As it stands, he does not, because he very much likes the feeling of her hand in his. He is going to have tea with her and he is going to introduce her to his family and he is going to show her around Witzend, and they are going to have a wonderfully mad time right up until the moment that she leaves -

(he doesn't want her to leave)

\- but he'll think about that when it happens, and not before! She is here now, and that is all that matters.

　

 

When she admits that she wishes to stay in Underland, Hatter kisses her.

He surprises her so much that she freezes in place, teacup still held aloft even though her hands feel suddenly numb. He had taken her face in his hands and kissed her; she had said that she wanted to stay, he had stared, and then he had _kissed_ her.

For a moment, she is reminded of one day at sea where Mr Harcourt had done very much the same thing. Their voyage had seen its problems, she had been frustrated, and they had shared a glance that had ended with him taking her hands and kissing her in perhaps the most gentle way that she could imagine. She had been so surprised, just as she is now, and James had been so flustered that he had been barely able to look her in the eye after she had gently started to reprimand him. (It hadn't been bad. It had been... nice, actually, for someone who as unexperienced in love as she was. But she did not love him in the way that he evidently loved her.)

Now, she is equally surprised. It is as equally nice. It is not particularly gentle, not in the way that James's kiss had been, but laced with pure exuberance and glee so strong that it nearly knocks her off her chair. It's emotional. Hatter's emotional. _She's_ emotional.

Her throat feels clouted with that emotion, surprise giving way into not muted panic or confusion, but something like... contentment.

And then he seems to remember himself and his chair _does_ tip precariously on two legs as he pulls back, green eyes widened in the shock that must still be clear on her face. "Oh dear."

Alice suddenly cannot help the grin that blossoms across her face. His shocked expression, wide eyes and voice gone thin, is too much. He looks more surprised than she had felt. "Hatter..."

"Do forgive me, I..." he lifts his teacup and takes a hasty sip, "seem to have lost control on my excitement. Funny thing, excitement, yes, emotions, when I found out my family was still alive and then when Father and I made our first hat you wouldn't believe how many hats we've made berets and fedoras and low tops and high tops- Hightopp, that's me-"

"Hatter!"

"Me... my..." He blinks rapidly. "I'm fine."

Alice smiles faintly and looks across the short distance between them. For being surprised with another kiss from another man, Alice finds that she is not upset. In fact, she is anything but. "Hatter... Tarrant." She reaches across the table and places her hand on top of the one not holding the teacup. He looks down at it, and looks at her, and raises his eyebrows. She wonders if she imagines the hopeful look in his eyes. "I've been so blind, haven't I?"

"No, not that."

"Absolem always did call me a stupid girl," she mutters.

"Never that," Hatter reiterated. "Not my Alice."

_My Alice._ How many times has he called her that? How many times as she missed the obvious? She closes her eyes briefly, and takes his hand in hers. She should be surprised how normal it feels. And yet? She isn't. "Tarrant," she repeats. ( _That_ will take some getting used to, she has to admit. He has always been _Hatter_ to her, up until the point where he is suddenly not.) "I'm not going anywhere this time."

He looks at her for a long moment, eyes searching hers again. And then he breaks out into the toothy grin she is so used to seeing from him. "So you're saying we have all the time in the world?" he chirps.

Alice laughs, pushes herself up from her chair to hug him. "All the time in Underland."

　

 

When she admits that she wishes to stay in Underland, he kisses her, and he struggles to grasp the concept while she sits and looks stunned. No longer can he be transparent, no longer would he have his hidden secrets where he barely hoped to _wish_ -

Except he could wish. This _was_ the place for wishes, after all. And she took his hand in hers instead of pushing away, stepping into his space instead of out, and her arms were around him, pulling him close, and it was like all wishes were coming true in that moment.

All the time in Underland. Him and her. That sounded, what had she said, so long ago? Crazy, mad, and wonderful. So amazing and beautiful, just like her.

He had wished for her to come back, and she had. He had wished for her to stay in Underland, and she had. He had wished for her to reciprocate his feelings. And she had. Regardless of situation and circumstance, she would always come back to him.

And here she was, with her head tucked on his shoulder and her hand trailing aimlessly up and down his spine. She is here. She is with him.

Tarrant is certain: all of his wishes really _have_ come true. He laughs into her hair. "I've gone bonkers, haven't I?"

"Well and truly," Alice replies warmly. "We'll both be mad together."

Tarrant hums and splays his hands against her back. What had seemed impossible was merely _un_ possible, and that unpossibleness was tucked into his arms and he couldn't be happier.

　

 

When she chooses to stay in Underland, neither a Kingsleigh or Hightopp has never been so happy.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I have such a hard time with writing Hattice, despite my intense love for it (I mean, if you follow me on Tumblr, you've seen the past couple weeks), mostly because I can't picture them, like, super intensely making out? I picture them more cuddling and holding hands and pecks on the cheek so it's hard to find my happy place. ~~or maybe it's just my ace mind having the usual trouble with sexual things err~~
> 
> Also it's hard to write Tarrant, dammit. xD
> 
> I do not own _AiW_ or _ATTLG_. Thanks for reading! :D


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